The benzodiazepines have formed an important class of anxiolytic agents for several years. Recently there have been publications such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,507,313 and 4,775,671. On the sub-group of the class, known as the imidazobenzodiazepines, particularly in which the imidazo group is substituted with an alkyloxadiazole group.
Now with the present invention there is provided a dihydroxy derivative of an important member of that subgroup which is about three times as active as its parent as an anxiolytic agent. The potentiating effect of dihydroxylation was not previously expected.